Defense first for Pistons' Maxiell

Detroit Pistons forward Jason Maxiell (54) grabs one of his 11 rebounds on the night, in the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Orlando Magic on Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013, in Detroit. Maxiell also scored 11 points to help the Pistons to a 105-90 win. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)

AUBURN HILLS — Most nights Detroit Pistons power forward Jason Maxiell is defending players much taller than him. But in Detroit’s recent two-game homestand, he defended two players built similar to him in Boston’s Brandon Bass on Sunday and Orlando’s Glen Davis Tuesday.

Maxiell held Bass scoreless Sunday and held Davis to 11 points on 4 for 16 shooting Tuesday. More importantly, Detroit won both games.

“My mindset is defense first,” Maxiell said. “It doesn’t matter what size they are, even though it was a good match against Boston and (Orlando). You try to dominate defensively, set the tone.”

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Maxiell had 11 points and 11 rebounds Tuesday for his fourth double-double of the season. Maxiell had nine points and 11 rebounds in the first half, but played just seven minutes in the second half when Orlando went to a smaller lineup.

“Max was great,” Pistons coach Lawrence Frank said. “Max (darn) near had a double-double at halftime. He was really, really good. ... Max I thought was terrific, especially when you look at halftime, Max had 11 rebounds and our other bigs didn’t rebound the ball much at all. Max was really good.”

“Max is an energy guy,” Kyle Singler said. “He’s a tough guy. He’s a guy that gets in there and makes tough plays, grabs tough rebounds.”

Pistons limit turnovers

Detroit matched its season-low with eight turnovers Tuesday night.

Frank had emphasized limiting the turnovers as of late, but didn’t feel Tuesday’s game was a proper gauge.

“I don’t know if that’s a true test in that Orlando doesn’t real force turnovers, that’s not really a part of what they do so far,” Frank said. “They are more of a contain oriented team. It’s good that we took care of it. Some of our turnovers were just on the break.”

Detroit hits the road

The Pistons won both games on their two-game homestand after their trip to London, but now hit the road for three straight, starting Wednesday night in Chicago.

“Now our focus is on Chicago,” Frank said after Tuesday’s game. “We’re going into a team that beat the Lakers, put up 27 points in the fourth quarter (Monday) night, played a complete game. ... We know going into Chicago that we’re going to have to play our best basketball. We look forward to the challenge.”

Detroit (15-26) hits the road trailing Boston by four games for the final playoff spot in the East. Chicago (24-16) is currently fifth in the East and in second place in the Central Division.

“They’re a great team, very good defensively,” Brandon Knight said. “We gotta continue to play the same way we’ve been playing, stick to our team values and we should be fine.”

After heading to Chicago, Detroit plays at Miami Friday and at Orlando Sunday.

Dave Pemberton covers the Pistons for Journal Register News. Email him at dave.pemberton@oakpress.com and follow him on Twitter @drpemberton.